Requiem for the Enslaved

Commissioned by Georgetown University, where Carlos Simon is Professor of Composition, Requiem for the Enslaved pays tribute to the 272 people who were sold as slaves in 1838 to rescue the university from bankruptcy. Scored for chamber ensemble and speaker (here the hip-hop artist Marco Pavé, who supplied the text), the Requiem is a powerful and heartfelt utterance. Weaving in spirituals, hymns, jazz, gospel, and echoes of griot (jali) storytelling traditions, combined with an infectious rhythmic life, the work sits resolutely and inspiringly between genres and speaks with palpable integrity and humanity.